crazydaisy

I just wanted to say that my original post is to do with the West of Ireland and England, ie wanting to move to the West of Ireland and not wanting to move back to England. By mentioning the words 'mainland England' I was not suggesting that the mainland just consists of England and by mentioning the Island of Ireland I was not suggesting that all of Ireland consists only of the Republic of Ireland. I am certainly aware that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as England are all parts of the United Kingdom (UK), Great Britain (GB), Britain or the British Isles but my post had ignored these other countries (or parts of countries, regions or whatever) simply because I was referring only to the West of Ireland, being a part of Eire, Republic of Ireland and so on and England (being the country that I don't wish to return back to). I did not mean that the Republic of Ireland is part of England (GB, UK etc) or that Northern Ireland is a part of the Republic of Ireland. I'm glad that I confused you all though!

snowqueen

YOu're right - I was forgetting the exemptions. Just so happens that my kids were born here, so they can't get out of it! You'll be fine if your kids are older! (phew!)

Anyway, it's not all bad - my son (who I can NEVER help with his Irish homework for obvious reasons!) came 2nd in the class with 80% last year, so at least I now know he has an aptitude for languages!! If only they learnt French as well though ....

Also Irish, while not being spoken much publicaly in Ireland, is all around you in the form of roadsigns, people dropping words into conversations etc, so in a way it's impossible to avoid. And we have a very cool Irish language tv station, TG4.

How do kids cope going into Canadian schools (mine will probably be 11 and 9 when we move) cope with French .. is French immersion the best way? That kind of worries me.

SQ

crazydaisy

It kind of depends whereabouts in Canada. It's amazing how many Canadians don't know a word of French, not even the basics. I said 'de rien' the other day to my boss and she said what does that mean?!! The local temping agency is screaming out for bilinguals so of course French speakers will probably do well on that score. Also some jobs prefer people who can speak both languages, particularly in local government etc. If your kids are moving to Quebec then French is a necessity and they will get plenty of French immersion just in the ordinary schools, however in most other provinces the only French taught is similar to the basic French taught in British (and probably Irish) schools. We haven't needed to speak a single word of French in over a year although there is a French quarter in Saint Boniface just East of downtown Winnipeg. You will find that all signs and food labels are marked with both English and French so you do get some exposure to the French language but not much, again depending on whether you lived in Quebec in which case the English would be less widely spoken. There are some French immersion schools around but these are more widely used by the French speaking families because most other schools outside of Quebec are all taught in English.

Hope that's a help to ya!

Best wishes, Daisy

(I've just gone to a website which provides info. for newcomers to Ontario as you mentioned that province as a maybe - at http://www.settlement.org/sys/faqs_d...faq_id=4000285 it states the following:

There are four publicly funded school systems in Ontario: English Public, English Catholic, French language Public and French language Catholic.

In Ontario, publicly funded schools are administered by school boards. English public schools are open to all students. Catholic schools are open to all students who are baptized Roman Catholic, and to children of Roman Catholic parents. Generally, French language schools are open to all students seeking a French language education.)

Londonuck

it is funny shes going to canada and you're going to ireland.

snowqueen

The irony is not lost on me.... ! Daisy and I have conversed over this forum a bit and I think it's fair to say we're are both just a tad nomadic! It doesn't (I hope!) mean that one of us is 'right' and one is 'wrong'.

We all want different things from life at different times of our life. For us, at the moment the outdoor lifestyle of Canada and the great life it will offer my kids is our driver. Who's to say that when they are all grown up (and maybe even back in Europe?) that we might not retire to the West of Ireland or the South of France?

One thing I CAN say however is that the aforementioned house prices work very well in our favour and effectively make this move a no-brainer!

Cheers
Snowqueen

Londonuck

we almost in same boat. i lived in vancouver for 6 and a half years and felt we was going nowhere. its a gorgeous place theres no doubt. we missed ireland a lot while we were away, even though we're london born and raised, we'd spend every summer and other times of the year over there cos my whole family and my wife's lot are all from ireland. every time we'd come back from vancouver we'd only end up visiting my immediate london family.

we came back to london about 18 months ago and i've have hated it. my wife settled back better than me but we're always going on holiday, mostly to ireland. 6 times in 18 months says alot! we looked into moving over. my family are all in dublin but we prefer the west, (west is best!) where my wifes family are situated. only thing is all the jobs are in dublin and like the other lady says u cant get within 50 miles of the place with house prices. we had to admit defeat. recently we looked into going back to canada cos i also miss the easy lifestyle there aswell. we're heading to nova scotia in july to see what we think. its close and flights back to ireland are cheap. houses are affordable but its work thats the question.

snowqueen

I hope it works out for you. I am sure you're not alone in wanting to come back to Ireland, but not being able to afford to. Also, it is really hard to find somewhere that will deliver a decent job AND the quality of life you want. We are in Dublin for 15 years, and although the 'standard' of living has I suppose gone up, the 'quality' of life is now not that much different from London or the SE. A nice job in the West would be lovely but they are harder to come by, and as someone said to me the other day, with the roads and transport the way they are, you might as well be in Canada as Castlebar, it would take you as long!

I wouldn't mind going to live nearer my folks or my brother in Dorset (lovely pubs and beautiful coast/ walks) but...same old problem, the jobs aint there, they're in Slough or some goddawful place like that! That and my hubby is Irish and wouldn't feel as 'at home' in the UK as me. We decided long ago to aim to live on "neutral territory", having originally met in South Africa, and we hope that Canada will work out for us in that way..new kids on the block together!

Presumably you have Canadian citizenship though, which means that whatever you decide, your kids will have the advantage of being able to choose too when their time comes? This for us is an important consideration, with the world changing so fast etc... the more choices the better!

Just curious BTW, what was is about Vancouver that made you want to leave?

Good luck
Snowqueen

crazydaisy

I agree that West is best! I think the job situation in the West may be touch and go but the infrastructure in Ireland is improving all the time - at quite a shocking rate I must say! It took hubby 8 months to find a job in Canada so I guess there's risks with wherever you move. In other words there are no right answers other than to do what feels 'right'. That's all that anyone can do..

Londonuck

jobs again! but we didnt find the job situation hard, cos maybe we were lucky, but a lot of people i know found it very difficult to get work. but apparently now its the centre of job creation in canada. there isnt much of a social scene there. its all coffee and walks along the seawall. this obviously sounds like heaven to many but for two 30 year old with a large selection of mates, here, and a good social life it came as a shock. its also Incredibly expensive. house prices are almost as bad as ireland and britain.

plus points are the summer. sitting on the beach looking over at the north shore mountains is a superb way to spend a hot day. its very relaxing there. my friends and family would come over and you could almost hear the steam being released as they sat looking at the mountains from our flat. seattle is close which is a wonderful city. whistler is also a good laugh for the weekend but more so in the summer cos winter is mad expensive.

downers are... endless rain in winter. no job grapevine. 10 hours home on plane and also expensive to fly any where.

a mate once descibed vancouver was like a supermodel. gorgeous to look at but empty inside. (male or female supermodel of course!)

best of luck to u and yours aswell.

john+avie

I`m a builder(brickie),wife,Avies a teacher,we have both heard that theres a skills shortage in Ireland. We are busy putting the finishing touches on our place here,and anticapate moving to Ireland in august.All the best to you+yours.

Batty

Hi John

We were living in Mountmellick in Co Laois for 3.5 years before we left last year and it's a great little town. Not many people consider Laois as a destination when they're moving to Ireland but for someone in your position it's a great base for work - slap bang in the middle of the country so you can get anywhere without TOO much difficulty. It's 10 minutes from the Dublin/Cork motorway. There's still a community feel to it and the people haven't been ruined as much as elsewhere LOL PLUS, houses are not as expensive as other, more popular, places. You can still get a decent house for less than €250k We had some building work done by a guy who'd come over from the UK and he was brilliant - we couldn't sing his praises highly enough and that was how he was getting work, by recommendation and a little advert in the local paper every week.

There has also been a fair bit of migration into the area from Dublin and abroad and it seems to have been very successful - lots of 'accents' in the pubs etc. There are quiz nights and drama clubs and generally people still have fun.

Anyway, just putting another mix into the pot for you, and anyone else who's considering moving over. Good luck.

john+avie

Cheers Batty,sounds good,just the sort of new`s I wanted to hear realy!!! Alls progessing well(albeit too slowly for me,as I want to be in Ireland-NOW)!Lol. Still looks like we`ll be out there,house sold,etc in august.Thanks for the reply.Oh by the way,where did ya move from? Or are ya an Irish resident looking to move abroad??? All the best,John.

Batty

Hiya John

I'm Irish, married to a Kiwi and we're living in New Zealand now. Have you signed up with www.unison.ie yet? It's got all the local newspapers as well as the Irish Independent and jobs etc. It's free to register.

john+avie

Thanks Batty! Sounds good,I`ll check it out as I`ve nver heard of it before,thanks again,all the best to ya. Lucky beggar! I`m married to a malaysian,unfortunately for me she`d rather live in Ireland than Malaysia! Must admit Irelands my 2nd choice as I love the sun!!!!!

Daedra

Was reading through this thread for my own personal interest, and as I am a Canadian immigrant from Montreal who has lived in England the past 2+ years I feel I can help you a bit with the whole "Quebec" ie "French Canada" aspect of possibly moving to Canada.

For one; Montreal is not like a typical small french town, very few locals are not bilingual, you just wouldn't be able to suceed if you only spoke one language and there would be 10 more same skill bilingual people in line for the same job you applied for....

But... having said that, Quebec is very proud of it's French heritage and will enforce the laws making SURE that French is equal or MORE predominant on public signs... Stems from a fear of loosing their culture when the British won the war in Canada, and British being polite as they were, allowed the French a 'refuge' in Canada which is/was Quebec.

Quebec is mostly Roman Catholic, which coming from Ireland, you may already be comfortable with. Most of the French swear words for instance, are sacrilidges against the church, where as most French (from France) swears will tend to be more sexual in context similar to English swear words. Just warning you in case you end up there and your teens come back spouting church objects in french to you

Lastly... there IS exemptions avaidable for immigrants moving to Quebed who have been raised predominantly in English (as English is also a national language of Canada of which Quebec is a part of) however, it takes more leg work and probably more stress then just simply moving to an English province in Canada would do.

Last selling point: Quebecers are the closest culture as far as social and loving their booze and smokes to Europe and they just LOVE a good party! (ok cheap shot at the anglophones, but they wont mind, too busy going to church and forgiving their sins )